Hair drier



16, 1940. S.KALLMANN. 2,197,752

HAIR DRIER Filed Aug. 12, 1938 INVENTOR 04111011 Kai/mam! 4 TTORNEYS Patented Apr. 16, 1940 WUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE In France August 28, 1937 1 Claim. (on. 34-25) This invention relates to hair driers of the type including a blower for circulating air and a heating device for heating the air, and relates particularly to hair driers of the type commonly used 5 in beauty parlors, by means of which heated air can be applied to the entire back, top and sides of the head.

The hair driers commonly known at the present time include an air circulating device such as blower and blast directing means such as, for

example, a plurality of perforated tubes or a double wall helmet which is adapted to be applied to the head, and by means of which air is distributed over the scalp. In the helmet or double 1| wall type, the perforations are usually 'comparatively small, as are the tubes which are present in the first mentioned type. These small perforations restrict the flow of air and tend to build up back pressure whichreduces the efficiency of the 2o blower. For this reason, it is necessary either to provide a very powerful blower which causes excessive vibration and noise, or the air must be heated to a higher temperature in order to produce the equivalent drying effect. Either expedient results'in: discomfort and annoyance to the customer. Another disadvantage of these types of devices is that the drying air is, in fact, not distributed uniformly over the -hair. The restricted areas of the numerous small air jets causes the air to dry rapidly at the places of direct contact of the air jets with the hair and much less rapidly at the places between the areas of contact of the blast. As a result, it is necessary to continue the drying operation for a considerable period of time after the hair, at localized points, has already been dried.

An object of this invention therefore is to provide hair-driers which overcome the defects of the driers described above by distributing the drying air uniformly over the" entire scalp, and thus rapidly and uniformly drying the hair.

hair driers which are capable of quickly and uniformly drying the hair at low temperatures and u at low initial blast pressures thereby eliminating m parent from the following description of a typicalhair drier embodying the invention.

Hair driers made in accordance with the pres- ,ent invention include a double wall helmet which is adapted to enclose the top, back and side por- 5 tions 01' the head, and which contains a blower and electric heating resistances for distributing and heating air. The hair drier is characterized by the provision of a movable or rotatable inner wall which is provided with. enlarged apertures through which the air is directed and distributed uniformly by rotation of the inner wall. The wall is preferably so arranged that the heated air can at'least in part be recirculated by the blower, thus reducing the. quantity of heat that is required to heat the air to the desired drying temperature.

More particularly, hair driers embodying the invention include a housing and an inner wall member, having large apertures therein, which is mounted in front of the blower for rotation dur-' ing operation ofv the blower and which is provided with vanes or blades that cause the wall to rotate and distribute the air uniformly. The

wall may be spaced at its forwarder front edge.

from the front of the housing to provide a passageway through which air may be delivered rear- 'wardly within the wall toward the blower. The

provision of substantially free pathsof air flowthrough the inner wall and between the inner wall and the housing reduces the back pressure to a minimum and thereby allows the blower .to

operate at maximum eficiency. Hair driers of this type may be provided with comparatively low powered blowers and small heating elements,,

and as a consequence are very economical in operation. Nevertheless, the efliciency of the dem vices is high for the reason that substantially full efficiency of the blower is obtained and heat losses are minimized by at least partial recirculae tion of the drying air.

For a better understanding of the present invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of a typical form of a device embodying the invention, shown partly broken away and partly in section to disclose the details of its construction; and Another object of the invention is to provide Figure 2 is a view in section taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1. v

The form of the invention disclosed in Figures 1 and 2 consists of an outer casing or housing i0 a and sides of an individuals head can be received.

In the opposite end of the housing I0 is mounted I a motor l3 which is supported on a transversely extending member l4 and drives a centrifugal blower or fan l5.

" Rotatably mounted within the forward end of the casing and extending between the outer portion of the casing and the flange I2 is an inner wall member I8 of generally conical shape having open ends, which is rotatably mounted on a spider I I fixed to the housing I 0. Freedom of rotation of the wall member I6 is facilitated by interposing an anti-friction bearing l1 between a flange l8 on the shaft l9 which is connected to the cross member 20 on "the wall member I 6 and a cap 2| which is threaded onto an annular flange 22 on the spider II. This construction allows the shaft [9 and the wall section Hi to rotate freely. The wall member It may be rotated by means of a plurality of blades or fins 23. which project radially outwardly from the outer surface a of the wall member l6. These blades may be straight or curved, as desired, either construction being satisfactory for the reason that the blast of air delivered by the blower is travels spirally around the casing.

Adjacent each of the-blades 23 is an elongated aperture 24 through which the blast of air is delivered into the interior'of the rotatable wall member. The large area of these apertures allows the air to circulate without substantial reduction in pressure, and at the same time distributes the air uniformly over the entire head during rotation of the wall member l6. Air may likewise be delivered into the housing member ID between the outer end thereof and the flange I! on the housing member. annular rearwardly flowing column of air which aids in causing recirculation of air through the smaller end of the wall member l6 into the center portion of the blower l5 and again outwardly between the housing I 0 and the wall member J6.

- losses are avoided for the reason that a large proportion of the air is recirculated through the fan and therefore, after beginning of operation,- the This construction creates an heating device 2! acts to heat the fresh air drawn into the housing Ill and to warm the recirculated air. Likewise, decrease in blast pressure is avoided for the reason that the apertures 24 and the rearwardlydirected passage at the front of the device easily accommodate the volume of air that is delivered by the -blower and'the flow of air' substantially unimpeded.

In order to prevent contact between the rotating wall portion l8 and the hair, it may be desirable to provide some protecting means such as, for example, a grill or cage construction 21 within the wall member It. The cage construction may suitably consist of a plurality of elliptical wires Ml and transverse annular connecting wires 29 which form a cup shaped cage. The ends of the elliptical wires 28 are connected to the inner surface of the flange I! of thehousing; The cage, therefore, has no projecting elements to catch or disarrange the hair and, also, prevents the hair from coming in contact with inner wall member wane the preferred form of the device has beenv described above, it will be understood there may be many variations made in the construction such as, for example, in the type of heating devices, blowers, and in the shape of the device and of its component. parts without departing from the invention. Therefore, the device described should be considered as illustrative only and notas limiting the scope of the following claim.

Ina hai'r drying device, the combination of a housing having an open end, elongated tubular wall member rotatably mounted within and in spaced relationship to said housing, said wall member being perforated to form air passageways, an inwardly directed flange adjacent the open end of said housing overlapping and terminatingv within said wall member to form a rearwardly opening outlet, a blower for delivering air forwardly between said wall member and said housing and rearwardly through said outlet, and fan blades on the exterior of and for rotating said vwall member in response to operation of said blower.

SIMON KALLMANN. 

